Skirt with bifurcated inner garment



y 1956 E. v. c. JONES 2,756,433

SKIRT WITH BIFURCATED INNER GARMENT Filed Aug. 3, 1954 2 Sheets-Sheet l I INVENTOR J iwaez flew? Jones a i V A July 31, 1956 E. v. c. JONES SKIRT WITH BIFURCATED INNER GARMENT 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Aug. 5, 1954 Z E i/QVTOIQ, z ztmagza aid/tr cfones United States Patent SKIRT WITH BIFURCATED INNER GARMENT Elizabeth V. Clair Jones, New York, N. Y.

Application August 3, 1954, Serial No. 447,587

1 Claim. (Cl. 2-212) This invention relates to garments, and more particularly to a skirted type adapted for feminine wear.

It is an object of the invention to provide a combination garment, consisting of a skirt and bloomers, so constructed that the same may be economically made and sold; which can be worn with comfort and with an assurance of protection and concealment during swimming, sports or other activities, and which will be of relatively simple construction.

It is another object of the invention to provide a skirted combination garment having a construction which will produce the efiect of two separate and independent garments, namely, a skirt and bloomers, and which can be comfortably worn at all times.

More particularly, the invention contemplates the provision of a skirt that is closed at the bottom by an insert or liner provided with spaced, elastically-contracted leg openings, and with a crotch panel or strip disposed across the insert or liner between the leg openings therein and reinforcing the central portion of the garment and providing an area of double thickness thereat.

With these and other objects to be hereinafter set forth in view, I have devised the arrangement of parts to be described and more particularly pointed out in the claim appended hereto.

In the accompanying drawing, wherein an illustrative embodiment of the invention is disclosed,

Fig. l is a front elevational view of a garment constructed in accordance with the invention;

Fig. 2 is a side elevational view of the same;

Fig. 3 is a sectional view on an enlarged scale, taken substantially on the line 3-3 of Fig. 1, looking in the direction of the arrows;

Fig. 4 is a view looking at the under side of the skirt, while the entire garment lies in flattened position;

Fig. 5 is a top plan view on a reduced scale of the garment while the same is in flattened condition, and with a portion of the skirt broken away to disclose construction, and

Fig. 6 is a sectional view, taken substantially on the line 6-6 of Fig. 3, looking in the direction of the arrows.

The improved garment consists of three main elements, namely, a skirt portion indicated at 1, an inner section or lining member 3, constituting an insert, and a crotch panel or strip indicated at 5.

The skirt portion 1 may be made of several sections or segments of fabric stitched together to provide the desirable fullness, and said skirt portion, as a whole, is substantially circular in outline, as is apparent from Fig. 5. At the center of the skirt 1 is provided the waistencircling opening 6 surrounded by the waist band 2 which is stitched in any known manner to the top of the skirt. At one side, the skirt is split downwardly from the waist band, as indicated at 7 in Fig. 2, to facilitate the donning and removal of the garment, said slit opening 7 being adapted to be closed, while the garment is being worn, by means of a slide fastener 8 or other suitable easily-operated closure means.

The inner section or lining member 3, most clearly seen in Fig. 4, consists also of a circular section, made of one or more united segments of fabric, and the same is stitched along its outer marginal edge to the lower marginal edge portion of'skirt 1 by the spaced lines of stitching 9 and 10. This arrangement provides a stiffened hem 11 at the lower end of the skirt, which hem may be suitably reinforced or stifiened by an insert if desired, to thereby add required stiffness at the lower edge portion of the garment.

Provided in the lining or inner section 3 are the spaced leg openings or holes indicated respectively at 4' and 12, the edge portions of said openings being suitably hemmed and provided with an elastic-contracting-member within the hem to thereby properly contract the openings 4 and 12 about the legs of the wearer.

A crotch panel or strip, shown at 5, consists of an elongated, substantially rectangular section of fabric of a width sufficient to span the space between the leg openings 4 and 12 in the inner section or lining member 3. Said panel 5 has one end attached at the waist band by the stitching 13 and its opposite end also attached to the waist band by the stitching 13 and its opposite end also attached to the waist band at a diametrically opposite location, also by the stitching 13. Thus, one end of the band 5 is attached at the front of the garment and the opposite end at the rear, the band being dependent down within the garment in loop formation, as clearly seen in Fig. 3. It will be noted that the band 5 has a portion located between the leg holes 4 and 12 and thus closely overlies that portion of the lining member 3 which is indicated at 14 and is situated between the leg holes. The spaced transverse lines of stitching indicating respectively at 15 and 16, attach the loop-shaped crotch panel 5 to the lining 3, and in addition, the panel 5 is also attached to the lining 3 by the longitudinal edge stitching indicated at 17 and 18. The result of this arrangement is that in the crotch portion of the garment there is provided an area of double thickness, namely a thickness produced by the lining 3 and a thickness provided by the overlying portion of the panel 5. Since these parts are connected together by the stitching 15, 16, 17 and 18 shifting or bunching of the panel 5 relatively to the lining member 3 in the crotch area of the garment will be efiectively prevented.

From the foregoing, the uses and advantages of the described garment will be apparent. When the garment is worn the contractible leg openings fit snugly about the thighs and as will be seen from Fig. 4, where the garment is shown in flattened form, the entire bottom of the skirt will be closed by the lining member 3, and thus any displacement of the skirt by the Wind or by activity of the wearer will not disclose any portions of the body of the wearer other than those parts of the legs which are located below the leg openings. The double reinforcement of the central portion of the garment by the crotch panel and by a part of the lining 3 which it overlies, assures protection and concealment.

While I have herein shown and described the garment in its simplest form for simplicity in illustration, it will be apparent that it may be styled in many ways and ornamented to meet requirements. Also, while the garment is disclosed in simple skirted form, it may be attached to or used in conjunction with an upper garment part, or may be used as a part of a complete dress, without altering the invention or departing from the spirit of the same.

Having described a single embodiment of the invention, it is obvious that the same is not to be restricted thereto,

Patented July 31, 1956' a; waist, band, a circular insert constitutinga lining. ier 5 the skirt, said: insert having outer edgeEstitched tn the marginal edge oi the skirt by spaced. lines of; stitching,

saidinsert closing the lower. end of the skirt and being provided with a pair of spacedsapart leg openings, '8; crotch panel consisting of an elongated fabric. strip of substantially uniform width and of a width substantially equal to.- the space between the leg openings, said strip being located on theinside of: theeircular insert and being, attached to the waist band at. the.- front and back respectiyely of the. garment, said strip depending loope like into the interior of the garment on the inside of the insert and. having: a central part disposed, between the leg openings and bridging the space therebetween, said 4 strip having said central part overlying the inner face of the insert stitched tn the insert. between the leg openings whereby the central part of the strip and the insert co-operate to produce a crotch area of double thickness, and the insert is supported by said strip.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Re. 15,910: Berry Sept. 9, 1924 520,225 Sittig May 2 2 1894 1,238,686 Kimball Aug. 28, 1917 1,419,059 Klein June 6, 1922 1,422,441 Harmon July 11', 1922 2,160,521 Rothstein May 30, 1939 2,519,866 Wellstatter Aug. 22, 1950 2,541,698 Gulisano Feb. 13, 1951' 

